


This time

by Soukoku_luv



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: (only for while though), Angst, Champion Ash, Character Death, Galar-chihou | Galar, Gun Violence, Kanto-chihou | Kanto, Rose | Chairman Rose Being an Asshole, Team Rocket Trio, Tokiwa City | Viridian City, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21861793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soukoku_luv/pseuds/Soukoku_luv
Summary: Being champion means a lot of responsibilities. That includes taking out the trash, no matter how messy it may get.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 114





	1. Chapter 1

The streets were empty on the night Ash decided to face him.  
  
  
‘It's probably for the best’ he thought, as he rolled his shoulders, upsetting the yellow mouse that sat on his shoulders. This was something he should have done a while back, probably in Unova, when the threat directly involved their group. And yet, Ash held off having to confront him. He waited, because he was a coward who couldn’t stand up for himself.

  
He didn’t want to see the face that he hated for the last 16 or so years of his life, the face of the person that not only haunted his nightmares, but absolutely crushed his chances of having a normal journey.

  
Giovanni was a bad man.

  
The worst in fact.

  
The gym leader of Viridian.

  
The leader of Team Rocket.

  
And yet, with all these titles, the only thing Ash knew him as was a bastard father who ruined his family. A man whose influence spread far across the globe infesting minds.A man who was drenched in the blood of Pokemon and humans alike.

  
Ash wouldn’t let Giovanni continue on like this, he couldn’t. Not after watching the video James gave him.

  
FLASHBACK:

  
The flash drive was given to him on the night they returned from Alola, the z-ring still on his wrist. They sat down together, him, James, Jessie, Meowth and Pikachu, all surrounding Ash’s laptop. It was reminiscent of days long gone, when Ash had no-one to turn to but his enemies. Days when the nightmare got too real and the only ones he could talk to were the ones that almost died with him.

  
The aura around them was sombre, they all knew the video held serious information, and Ash could guess what it was anyway. He played the video regardless.

  
Closure was a good thing apparently.

  
The video was from two years ago, clearly filmed by a shaky hand. There on the screen, was Silver, his back pressed against a dark wall. And opposite him stood Giovanni, bathed in shadows, a gun present in his hands. On either side of him stood two men, their faces unseen. The camera wobbled as Giovanni stepped forward, his voice just above a whisper.

  
“All you had to do was keep out of the way, and you could have survived. Do you want to die Silver?” He asked lightly, pressing the gun against the boy’s head.

  
“And think about Ash my boy, what will he think, finding out that his dear brother is dead? Well, he won’t know how you died, but don’t worry, he won’t follow you to the grave."

  
“Not yet anyway.”

  
He stopped for a while, observing how the boy before him trembled, hands kept firmly on the wall to remain upright. In a sudden act of violence, the man stepped forward, pressing the child against the wall, with his hand squeezing his small throat.

  
“He was involved in the Meloetta incident you know,” he said absentmindedly, even as the boy began to struggle and writhe.

“It seemed that he knew who I was back then. You told him didn’t you Silver? You found him and told him about his dear old dad. I bet he enjoyed that, knowing what poisons flow in his veins. The poor child must have been crushed!” Giovanni laughed mirthlessly, as he pressed the gun harder to Silver's head.

“The gods flock to him you know. From the first day of his journey they followed him. With him, the legendaries will bend to my will, even with his knowledge of who I am to him. You can finally be discarded as the worthless trash you are. No son of mine should fail me twice Silver. I do hope you remember that in your afterlife.”

At last , he released the boy’s throat, causing him to collapse like a rag doll onto the oak floor beneath him. The video began to shake more violently now, as the gun was raised slowly and pointed at the child on the ground. The screen went dark, just as the echo of three gunshots were heard.

Ash cried that night. Harsh and painful sobs broke from the poor boy as he fell to the cold forest ground below him. He cried endless streams of tears that soaked his sleeves, for once finding no comfort in the yellow rat he adored with his life. Ash Ketchum was alone in the depths of his mind, lost in the darkness and nightmares.

FLASHBACK END

The gym had not changed since the last time he came here, all those years ago. A naive little boy with a destiny set in stone and dreams too vast to achieve. Training had been fun back then, experiencing life for what it truly was. The occasional legendaries were just another adventure, as far as Bock and Misty knew. The nightmares weren’t that bad anyway, he was able to handle it most of the time.

His footsteps echoed as he walked down the corridors, having memorized the floor plan and the directions to the central office. Ash hoped Giovanni was there, the message was for him and him alone.  
The end of the corridor was dimly lit, a faulty light flickering on and off ominously, as if warning him about the danger inside. He lips lifted in the resemblance of a smirk, nodding at Pikachu to light up. The small mouse did do, bathing the walls in unnatural yellow light. He hopped off Ash’s shoulder and walked ahead of him, standing directly in front of the mahogany doors before letting a stream pure electricity arc from him to hit the door, burning it. An iron tail followed shortly afterwards, causing the door to crash down to form a path.

The man was standing by a large floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the city below him, seeming to ignore Ash’s entrance.

“Giovanni” Ash began, but the withering look sent his way the man made him hesitate with his words.

“Has your mother taught you no manners boy?” He sneered, as his Persian moved out of the shadows behind Ash.

“Treat your father with some respect, unless you want to end up dead like your brother.” He began to walk towards Ash, exposing the gun he held in his hand.

“Brings back memories doesn't it? This is exactly how I killed Silver, and now you can share his fate. What did you hope to accomplish by coming here? Did you hope to redeem him with all of this?” The man began laughing, his greying hairs dancing across his forehead. Clearly, neither of his sons could live up to the Rocket name, and so neither deserved to live.

“Well father,” Ash tried again, with a carefully placed smile on his face. He reached into his belt slowly, Giovanni tracking his movements with his eyes confusedly.

“ The only reason I came here was to deliver on a promise I made to Silver.” The smile on his face dropped into indifference as he enlarged the pokeballs in his hands.

“Be ready to die today.”

The pokeballs opened to reveal three pokemon. The first was a fire breathing monstrosity with a burning tail and scarred body. The behemoth next to it glowed brighter than a thousand suns and stood ready to attack on call. However, the final Pokemon truly struck fear into the heart of Giovanni and immediately changed his stony facade.

Directly in front of him, Mewtwo stood tall, it’s tail whipping furiously behind it. The look of utter hatred and contempt aimed his way made the man look away, back to Ash.

The boy stepped in front of his Pokemon, Pikachu by his feet, facing Giovanni. The man’s eyes widened into shock when a gun was taken out of Ash’s pocket, a resounding click of the safety lock being heard soon afterwards.

“It’s ironic isn’t it?” asked Ash,"that it'll me that will end your life and not the pokemon behind me?" Not once did his eyes stray from the gun in his hand.

" Not Charizard, not Solgaleo, not Pikachu and certainly not Mewtwo. And you want to know why?"  
He finally looked up from staring at the gun, his amber eyes trained on his father.

" It's because I don't want the poison that you call your blood on their hands."  
" That responsibility is for me to uphold. "

The punch came so sharply that Giovanni had no time to brace, and fell back harshly against the glass windows. He could feel blood pouring from his nose, staining the floors red once again.  
He saw Ash lift the gun, the silver coating shining bright against the moonlight background.  
The shots were fired in quick succession, two to the chest and one to the brain, not leaving Giovanni time to cry out from pain. As he lay face down on the ground, blood bathing him in a sea of red, Ash stepped calmly over the body to walk out of the room, signaling Charizard to torch the place down.

He should feel bad and he knew that, but all that mattered was that Silver was avenged, and the gods were happy, meaning he was happy. What's is there to family if they're not there for you? The only family he needs are his mother, his Pokemon and the trio that have never left his side since day one, even when so many others have.

He left Viridian that night, his backdrop being a burning gym and no witnesses or evidence to point the blame on him.  
Being a champion meant getting your hands dirty and doing things that others are too afraid to do. Things such as murder for example, but Ash still had many plans after this, starting with dealing with a bastard called Chairman Rose in Galar.

"If I am planning to dirty my hands," Ash thought with a growing grin on his face, "I might as well bathe in blood.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I write more to this fic? I don't know.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter!! I'm testing the waters and regret how short it is.

And bathe he did…

Within days of the killing of Giovanni, word got out.

‘Suicide’ was the cause the media believed, who leeched off information that Ash got a certain someone to leak.

Word spread fast about Giovanni’s affiliation to Team Rocket, and thus, his life’s work was ruined. With that came more startling news.

The upheaval of Team Rocket would be spearheaded directly by the new Champion.

However, what surprised people the most was the lack of a retaliation from the remains of the criminal organization, but what could the low-level grunts do anyway? Their superiors had recently been executed by the Champion himself, broadcasted on the organization’s comms for all remaining operatives to see. The only words spoken by him were a warning,

“All remaining Team rocket grunts are to report to the underground bunker near Viridian gym. Anyone not there will be found and eliminated.”

A week later it was announced that Team Rocket had been completely eradicated, and the crowds rejoiced. Never in their lives had they seen a person of authority take such decisive and firm action, especially not against a regional villainous Team.

But Ash was ecstatic. It was the dawn of a new era after all.

And Lance could do shit about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter!!
> 
> Time for Rose to hit the scene!

"Hey Rose, you seen this?" Leon, who was sitting precariously on the sofa waved back to him. “It’s a report on the Team Rocket takedown in Kanto. Apparently, the new champion got involved and it all went to shit.” 

Rose knew this already. He always kept a close eye on Lance for a long time, lest the man tried to take on his authority. Now, his teams kept their eyes on the surprisingly young champion who had supposedly bulldozed his way through with even Alpha legendaries on his team. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on that boy, imagine all that power and control he’d be able to exert on the Kanto region, with their child champion under his thumb! In his musings, he filtered out the very annoying voice of Leon in favour of his much more enjoyable inner voice.

Leon however, decided to change the channel on the t.v, which revealed to be breaking news from Viridian city gym. 

“Shit, Rose.Look at this, it’s the kid! He’s doing a press conference.”

Rose turned around in order to closely inspect the broadcast. On screen stood Ash Ketchum on a news platform, looking directly at the camera. Rose felt goosebumps rising up his arm, as if those whiskey eyes were boring directly through him.

On screen, the child’s voice spoke loudly through the mic, voice cold and emotionless. “ Hello to the people of Kanto, and those around the world. As you may or may not know, I am Ash Ketchum. I am the champion of both Alola and Kanto, and I would like to take this conference to clear up any misconceptions about the last few weeks.” He paused for a minute, and breathed deeply before continuing impassively.

“Giovanni of Viridian city is dead, cause of death has been identified as suicide. Further investigations have revealed affiliations to Team Rocket, so there is no reason to deny that the abnormalities that have been detected in the underworld are related to his death, and will resolve itself soon. As you are all aware, I am directing this approach, and would like to use this opportunity to call out other world leaders, politicians and people of power. I made my stand against crime, I recommend you do the same. The world will never stay still for too long. Make your move, before it's done for you.” He abruptly smiled, personality switching instantly as his threatening stance dissipated. 

Rose had no further chances to observe the boy, as the camera swiveled around back to the reporter. Uh. That boy was going to become a bigger headache than even Leon. Though unlike Ash, Leon sat perfectly in the palms of his hands. Speaking of which, he turned to address the man next to him,

“What’s his plan Leon? Do you know what he wants?”

The eccentric man turned his head in confusion, “ He probably wants what I’ve been asking you since I became Champion. If news about performance enhancers and drugs gets leaked, that’s it for us, for the whole business you’ve got running on the back of the league.” 

Rose grinned wildly. So he did have a brain after all, though he still failed to understand the principle of it all. 

It wasn't just drugs. It was way more than steroids and hormone antagonists. It was way more than the A-class drugs, the imported guns, knives and swords. For a balck market business to run, Rose knew a wide net was essential. People always wanted more and more. It was simple supply and demand. 

And that’s why he was involved in Pokemon capture, testing and research. In fact, he was one of the leading benefactors of the TR project to create Mewtwo, the first of a new generation of WMDs. But now that Giovanni was dead, that was another loose end neatly tied up. However,he was rather irate about the current location of said WMD, who was currently in the ownership of one Ash Ketchum.

He needed to have a chat with the boy in order to see what leverage he could get on him. The boy probably couldn't possibly comprehend the amount of power within that Pokemon. It was Ketchum's mistake to ask for global action against organised crime. He'll most likely end up dead before his twenties, so maybe Rose would just nudge him along to get there quicker. (that is if his plans fall through)

**Author's Note:**

> I will enjoy any comments and hope you've enjoyed this!  
> (Beware of very inconsistent updates)


End file.
